Millions of people each year seek out the services of a professional hair salon to style or chemically treat their hair. The salon typically has a separate sink station, where attendants can apply shampoo or conditioner, massage the scalp, apply chemicals and then rinse customers' hair. At the sink station, it is necessary to have the customer's head at the upper level of the sink. Customarily, the customer sits in a chair which faces away from the sink and which reclines to bring the customer's head over the edge of the sink basin and oriented toward the water supply.
While this arrangement optimizes the distance between the customer's head and the water supply, and minimizes liquid spillage onto the floor, it undoubtedly strains the neck muscles. Having a shampoo, scalp massage, rinse, conditioner, second scalp massage and second rinse can take over five minutes. State of the art salon sinks often have an integral groove suggesting where a customer can lay her neck, but this groove is rigid and does not prevent overextension. What is supposed to be a relaxing and pampering experience becomes stressful and painful, particularly for salon customers of a certain age. The prior art has attempted to overcome this problem by adding padding to the salon sink edge. However, these are not any more comfortable and still do not provide the cushioning and support this part of the body requires. Other prior art supports which attach directly to salon chairs tend to slip, require cumbersome fastening devices that tangle and do not allow the user's head and hair to extend over the edge of the sink.
This industry needs a means for more comfortably supporting the head and neck of a person reclining backward in a chair toward a salon sink. It would properly support the cervical spine and neck muscles while in the reclining position. It would also allow the user's head and hair to extend over the edge of the sink and receive water. The support is coupled to the back of a wide variety of chairs without the need for external fasteners, and then manually removed for cleaning or for storage.